New York Times opinion piece berates Brownback and Kansas budget dilemma

Kansas was recently featured in a New York Times piece criticizing the state for its budget shortfall resulting from the biggest tax cuts in Kansas history.

The piece called Governor Sam Brownback’s 2012 implementation of personal and corporate income tax cuts for rich business owners, which he claimed would produce higher state revenues, a trickle down fantasy that has not moved employers to invest and hire more, but instead has resulted in a state budget flooded with red ink.

The New York Times editorial board also berated Brownback’s veto of tax legislation that would have reinstated the tax cuts and generate an approximate $1 billion over the next two years, calling it less of a victory for Brownback than a rebuke to his leadership.

The piece goes onto say that Brownback’s real-life test of the economic theories so warmly embraced by the likes of House Speaker Paul Ryan has provided indisputable proof that no miraculous free lunch will result from his party’s tax-cut delusions.

As Reuters reports, the credit rating agency faulted the state for its continuous use of one-time revenue measures to shore up operational spending. For the upcoming biennial budget, nonrecurring measures include a plan to sell bonds backed by Kansas' share of a nationwide settlement with U.S. tobacco companies, liquidation of a capital reserve, and pension underfunding, S&P said.

As The Wichita Eagle reports, the proposed bill would include an end to a tax cut for roughly 330,000 business owners and generate more than $1 billion over the next two years, according to state estimates.